like stars, we crash and burn
by Mia-Zeklos
Summary: "It was always difficult to turn Jace away when he was being like this; affectionate and determined to get what he wanted."


**Notes: Written by the prompt, "Alec taking care of Jace after a mission followed by sex". Feedback is always welcome!**

"Right, here we go." The door of Jace's room slammed behind Alec's back as soon as he came in, pulling Jace along with him perhaps a little less gently than would have been advisable. He'd been careful when they'd left the place where their latest hunt had taken them and even more so on their way back to the Institute and while it had helped with the pain, it had cost them too much time. "Sit on the bed."

"I can take care of myself, Alec." The irritation in Jace's voice was weak enough to fail to prove his point, but he stood his ground, eyeing Alec warily as he searched through his cabinets for the first aid kit.

"Just stay there." Alec stopped for a moment, turning around to face his parabatai. "Don't tell me you've thrown it away."

"Of course I haven't." Jace sounded almost offended. Runes weren't always the only way; that was one of the first lessons that most Shadowhunters received. Higher demons usually left wounds that couldn't be healed with an iratze and everyone was supposed to keep mundane healing tools around them if possible. Under normal circumstances, it wasn't possible on missions - they'd had to settle for a painkilling rune before they'd tried to make their way home, but it had done nothing about the injury itself. "Check the wardrobe."

Alec did, pushing aside the weapons and gear that littered the drawers inside. He finally found what he was looking for and busied himself with finding exactly what he would need, grateful for the distraction from the worrying amount of blood that Jace had lost already.

It had been nothing but a routine mission. Isabelle hadn't even bothered to join them and they'd split once they'd reached the spot, ready to search the small park as quickly as possible and be done with it. They had been almost entirely sure that the trail they'd been given was false.

It hadn't been; they'd figured that out soon enough. Alec had realised that the moment he'd seen the nest and the eggs inside it and he'd called out to Jace to warn him, but the only answer he'd got had been the sounds of a fight.

They'd been vastly outnumbered. That was what Alec would put in his report tomorrow, but it wasn't doing the situation any justice. He'd ran in the direction in which Jace had gone only to find him surrounded by enough demons that he had barely been able to see the faint glow of his Seraph blade in the darkness. He'd started shooting immediately, but he'd been too late - as it turned out from what Jace had already told him, he'd already killed two of them when a third one had snuck up behind him and, by the time he'd turned around to attack, it had already spat its poison at him.

Alec cautiously cut Jace's shirt through the middle and tossed it aside to inspect the wound. _Poison_. It wasn't a wound, exactly; not like the ones they were usually trained to treat. He was used to demons that bit and clawed at them and while there was usually enough poison in those particular marks to cause a light fever if not dealt with on time, it was never anything like _this_. Still, he reached for the antiseptic, faltering only when he heard Jace's hiss from above his head. "A warning would have been nice."

"You knew it was coming." Alec tried to ease the pressure over the affected area on Jace's side, but not by much - he needed to clean all of it, and things didn't look promising. It was easy to see exactly where the poison had landed because it had eaten away an entire layer of skin, leaving behind a bloody mess that would take quite a while to heal if Alec didn't deal with it properly; if he let it stay like that, it would spread to his ribcage and only the Angel knew what could happen then. It was the dead of night and he was sure that there was no one left in the hospital wing, although he doubted that they could do something for Jace that he couldn't.

Jace was staring resolutely at the opposite wall, clearly trying not to react again, but the pain coming through their bond - duller now, and not quite as persistent - was enough to tell Alec everything he needed to know about the situation. Once he was satisfied with how thoroughly the wound was cleaned, he fished around for the bandages and proceeded to apply them until he was sure that everything was secure.

"There," he said, pulling away slightly. "All done."

Jace smiled ruefully down at him and reached out, fingers caressing Alec's jawline. "You know, it usually doesn't hurt so much when you're in this position."

Ah, there he was. The Jace that Alec knew and loved. He patted his parabatai's knee and made to stand up. "Let's go to bed. You need rest."

"You'll have to take the rest of my gear off." Jace didn't seem uncomfortable with the suggestion itself but with the realisation that he had to make it in the first place. It was never a good sign if a Shadowhunter had to rely on someone else's help and the fact that it was just the two of them in the room didn't change much. Alec didn't hesitate.

He was halfway through discarding Jace's belt and unbuttoning his jeans when he saw Jace leaning in his peripheral vision. He tried to ignore him, but it wasn't easy - a moment later, Jace's teeth were worrying the skin on the side of his neck, careful but insistent.

"Jace," he warned, drawing away just a fraction. "This really isn't the time."

"It still hurts," Jace said with a shrug. He braced his hands on Alec's shoulders as he helped him out of his jeans. "I can't go to sleep yet anyway."

"You're in too much pain to sleep so you want to have sex?" This could only make sense in Jace's head. But then again, a lot of things only made sense in Jace's head; the way his parabatai pressed himself closer against him was proof enough for that. "Don't be ridiculous."

"You won't hurt me. And you know the bond always feels stronger then," he added slyly, letting go of Alec with one hand so that he could trace their parabatai rune instead. "It'll help me heal faster."

Alec could tell that he was being manipulated - Jace hadn't been all that subtle about it - but he knew that his parabatai was at least partially right. They had yet to find the limit of what their bond could do when strained to endure exactly the kind of relationship they'd been instructed not to start, but the lack of distance between them always seemed to help them, both on a physical level and in ways neither of them could really explain.

If Alec thought about it for a second more, he would agree. He knew Jace's tricks and he knew what effect his coaxing usually had on him, but by the time he looked up to say 'no' again, he found himself drawn into a kiss.

It was difficult to turn Jace away when he was being like this; affectionate and determined to get what he wanted. Alec reached up to card his fingers through his parabatai's hair and smiled into the kiss when Jace came even closer to him, his enthusiasm growing now that the attention had been returned.

Alec had been distracted enough not to realise where they were heading until he was pushed onto the bed, but he reached out the moment he saw Jace hesitate. "Careful," he chided, helping Jace up as gently as possible. It wasn't enough; Jace's pained grimace was impossible to hide and Alec's confidence faltered. "Maybe we should wait."

"You won't hurt me," Jace repeated and Alec briefly wondered if he wasn't still lightheaded from his near-death experience. It couldn't have been easy, no matter what he said - Jace had been all on his own against far too many demons for anyone to fight; the adrenaline rush from that and the injury that had followed had to have affected him somehow.

Alec's eyes closed as Jace attached himself to his neck again; peppering the skin there with kisses and biting lightly when he reached his shoulder. Despite Alec's worries, it felt like Jace knew exactly what he was doing and he pushed him away, holding him as an arm's length for a moment.

"Okay, okay," Alec laughed softly at the impatient look in his parabatai's eyes. "Don't strain yourself."

It was impossible to miss the glint of triumph in Jace's eyes. "Supplies?"

"Wait here." Alec started looking for his stele first and found it in the jacket he'd tossed by the door, then tried to find the lube. He was too familiar with Jace's room to stumble around too much and soon enough, he climbed back on the bed, still extremely conscious of everything that could cause Jace even the slightest discomfort.

He made sure to reactivate a few of Jace's runes before doing anything else; mainly the ones related to healing. The effect wasn't going to last as long as he would have liked it to, but it would have to be enough for now. After a moment or two of shifting them both around, Alec managed to lie back on the bed with his back propped on the headboard and with Jace seated over his lap. It wasn't the perfect position, but it was better than having Jace irritate his wound by pressing it against the sheets.

"Are you sure?" Alec asked just in case, reaching up to cup his parabatai's cheek. Jace's only answer was to lean down to kiss him, clearly enjoying his vantage point and it was enough of an affirmative for Alec to reach out and flip the lube open, smiling at Jace's startled expression when one of his slicked up fingers reached its goal.

"You have to tell me if anything hurts." Alec had been as thorough as possible with his runes, but he still felt the need to warn him again. If Jace's grimace was anything to go by, he didn't share the sentiment.

"Shut up," he complained, bracing one hand on Alec's shoulder to keep his balance. "I'm fine." He moved closer again, but it wasn't for the kiss that Alec had expected; instead, he felt Jace's lips linger next to his ear. "Get on with it."

Alec tried to prepare him as quickly as possible, urged on by his parabatai's rather vocal approval, only to throw his head back with a groan of his own when he felt Jace's fingers close around his cock.

"I thought I told you to let me do the work," he reproached. Jace gave him a breathless laugh in response.

"You were taking too long _and_ it's three in the morning. I'm ready," he added and Alec took his cue to draw his hand away, barely managing to keep still as Jace lowered himself down on him excruciatingly slowly. He snuck one hand behind his parabatai's back and brought them closer together to press Jace's chest to his own, delighted when Jace leant on him, forehead resting on Alec's shoulder as he took him in.

Soon enough, Alec felt him start to move and his grip on his parabatai tightened, only encouraging Jace's quickening pace. Neither of them was going to last very long if he kept it up, but he didn't _care_ , preferring instead to focus on sneaking his free hand between their bodies and wrapping his fingers around Jace's erection, twisting his hand just slightly on the upstroke in a way he knew his parabatai loved. It was intoxicating; getting to hear the telltale hitch in Jace's breathing that told him how close he was and to actually _feel_ it when he came, the familiar burst of warmth and the subsequent whimper Jace tried to drown out with lips pressed against Alec's neck almost triggering his own orgasm. As it was, it didn't take him much longer; just feeling Jace's muscles clenching around him was enough and after two more thrusts, he came too, biting his lip as he rode out the aftershocks.

It took him a few moments to recover enough to carefully push Jace back onto the bed and on his good side, but Alec managed it. "Feeling better now?"

"Much better." Jace stretched like a cat, drawing the covers over himself. He seemed even more exhausted now that the last shreds of energy had left him and Alec made a mental note to convince him to get checked by an actual healer come morning.

Of course, Jace's train of thought had taken a completely different path.

"You do realise you'll have to help me with those bandages for a few days, right? Taking a shower would be _so_ much work otherwise."

"Go to sleep, Jace."

To his relief, Jace seemed content to do just that. Alec closed his eyes, too; he was already sure that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep – trying not to accidentally press himself against Jace's injury would keep him up too efficiently for that – but Jace was clearly comfortable enough to finally let himself rest and for now, that was enough.


End file.
